. . . are your friend! Okay, they can't buy you drinks, or designate drive for you, but . . .
. . . they can provide useful information about siblings of your direct ancestors.
For example, I didn't know that my great-grandmother Mary Willie Watson Boone (maternal) had quite a few siblings. In fact, other than the fact that she married Victor Ivo Boone and had 15 children by him, I didn't know much about her.
Now, I know that she had seven brothers/sisters, and that her father Richard Hiliary Watson had nine brothers/sisters.
Census records can also help you find out who your ancestors married.
So, for the past few days, I've been adding siblings, marriages and children to my direct ancestors, because . . .
. . . I want as complete a portrait of the family as I can possibly get.
I want future researchers to see the connection between family members, and have enough information to make the necessary connections in their own research.
So, when dancing with the ancestors, pay close attention to census records.
Oh, did I mention, that when reviewing census pages, I found that my great-grandfather Smith (paternal) lived just a few doors down from his future second wife? Uh-huh, try that one on for size. I wonder if she baby-sat for him and his first wife. EEEWWW!
S
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Member Connect
Member Connect is a neat feature on the Ancestry site that allows a person to connect with other Ancestry members doing research on the same family member.
Now, as I've said before, Ancestry, in many instances, is suspect at best because most people don't take the time to verify the information they're linking to on the site.
I do. So . . . my trees are as accurate as I can make them, based on information from family records and the Internet.
But . . . back to Member Connect. What I've been able to do using Member Connect is verify dates of birth/death for relatives on the many branches outside the direct descent of the family tree.
My grandfather was one of 10 children. I've gone in, with information provided by my uncle, and added the marriages/children of all his siblings. Trust me, lengthy task when you're talking about a Catholic family.
But . . . in some instances, I didn't have dates of birth/death for spouses, or dates of birth for the children.
I have been able to find this information by using Member Connect on the Ancestry site. Woo-hoo!
It's nice to have actual dates of birth/death versus blank spaces, and to have the information regarding where they were born/died.
So, if you hit a stumbling block in your research, check out the Member Connect option. You just might find the information you're looking for!
Have fun as you dance with the ancestors!!
S
Now, as I've said before, Ancestry, in many instances, is suspect at best because most people don't take the time to verify the information they're linking to on the site.
I do. So . . . my trees are as accurate as I can make them, based on information from family records and the Internet.
But . . . back to Member Connect. What I've been able to do using Member Connect is verify dates of birth/death for relatives on the many branches outside the direct descent of the family tree.
My grandfather was one of 10 children. I've gone in, with information provided by my uncle, and added the marriages/children of all his siblings. Trust me, lengthy task when you're talking about a Catholic family.
But . . . in some instances, I didn't have dates of birth/death for spouses, or dates of birth for the children.
I have been able to find this information by using Member Connect on the Ancestry site. Woo-hoo!
It's nice to have actual dates of birth/death versus blank spaces, and to have the information regarding where they were born/died.
So, if you hit a stumbling block in your research, check out the Member Connect option. You just might find the information you're looking for!
Have fun as you dance with the ancestors!!
S
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Great Grandpa William Joshua Sweat (maternal)
Great Grandpa William Joshua Sweat was born March 1, 1859 to Alexander and Catherine Langdon Sweat. He was one of three children - William, James, and Elizabeth.
Family legend (okay, not really legend, but . . .) has it that, at the same time great grandpa went missing, so did a woman from the same town. Uh-huh, yeah, you don't need to be a genius to figure that one out.
Papaw (William Oscar) spent his entire life searching for his father. He died not knowing what happened to his father.
At some point, sometime in the 80s, Uncle Joe (Rothman) met a man at Fort Knox that bore a striking resemblance to the Sweat family, I believe to Uncle John (but could be wrong on that one). After speaking with the man, and mentioning William Joshua's disappearance, the man admitted there was a big family secret in his family that the family didn't talk about.
Long story short, the man agreed to meet with Papaw. He drove to Lebanon Junction and . . . knocked on the front door.
Well, anyone who knew papaw always came to the kitchen door. The front door was just for appearances, not to be used . . . unless you were going to sit out on the front porch and watch the many, many, many, many grandkids race around the front yard. Boy, those were the days.
So, papaw didn't answer the front door. The man thought no one was home. The man went away and . . . the mystery remains unsolved. Was he a descendant of William Joshua Sweat? Did William Joshua start another family? How long did he live?
At this point, we don't know - and maybe never will - the answers to those questions. All we know for sure is that one day, in 1906/1907, Great Grandpa went out for a pack of cigarettes (sorry, couldn't resist) and never came back.
Karen Skees - our second cousin, third cousin (her great-grandfather was James Sweat, William's brother, and her grandmother was Louisa Boone, mamaw's sister) - has found some information, but hasn't had time to research any of it . . . so far.
The information she discovered was that in 1906, after some tragedy where four children died, a lay person at St. Vincent de Paul church in New Hope, KY baptized the four children, and listed the mother as a non-Catholic, and the father as . . . William Joshua Sweat.
Dun, dun, dun . . .
At that time, there was only one William Joshua Sweat (dear old great grandpa - well, not so old at that time) in New Hope, Nelson County, Kentucky.
So, more questions . . . Was William Joshua actually their father? Did he have another family that no one knew about? Did he just believe those children couldn't go to heaven without being baptized? Did he give them his name so they could get to heaven?
Well, at this point, we just have more questions. Maybe one day we'll dig deep enough to find the truth. Maybe one day we'll know why great-grandpa disappeared.
Until then, I only have my warped imagination and the inspiration for an historical mystery loosely based on great grandpa's disappearance. Oh, the places my imagination has gone as I plot out this future novel.
Did I mention that on her death certificate, Margaret Morris Sweat is listed as a . . . widow?!?!? Uh, huh, maybe he didn't just disappear, maybe . . .
S
On October 26, 1886, he married Margaret Morris. They had the following children:
- Joseph Leo
- James Monroe
- George Alexander
- John Patrick
- Benjamin Franklin
- William Oscar (Papaw)
- Catherine Elizabeth (Lizzie)
- Mary Ida
- Charles Daniel
Family legend (okay, not really legend, but . . .) has it that, at the same time great grandpa went missing, so did a woman from the same town. Uh-huh, yeah, you don't need to be a genius to figure that one out.
Papaw (William Oscar) spent his entire life searching for his father. He died not knowing what happened to his father.
At some point, sometime in the 80s, Uncle Joe (Rothman) met a man at Fort Knox that bore a striking resemblance to the Sweat family, I believe to Uncle John (but could be wrong on that one). After speaking with the man, and mentioning William Joshua's disappearance, the man admitted there was a big family secret in his family that the family didn't talk about.
Long story short, the man agreed to meet with Papaw. He drove to Lebanon Junction and . . . knocked on the front door.
Well, anyone who knew papaw always came to the kitchen door. The front door was just for appearances, not to be used . . . unless you were going to sit out on the front porch and watch the many, many, many, many grandkids race around the front yard. Boy, those were the days.
So, papaw didn't answer the front door. The man thought no one was home. The man went away and . . . the mystery remains unsolved. Was he a descendant of William Joshua Sweat? Did William Joshua start another family? How long did he live?
At this point, we don't know - and maybe never will - the answers to those questions. All we know for sure is that one day, in 1906/1907, Great Grandpa went out for a pack of cigarettes (sorry, couldn't resist) and never came back.
Karen Skees - our second cousin, third cousin (her great-grandfather was James Sweat, William's brother, and her grandmother was Louisa Boone, mamaw's sister) - has found some information, but hasn't had time to research any of it . . . so far.
The information she discovered was that in 1906, after some tragedy where four children died, a lay person at St. Vincent de Paul church in New Hope, KY baptized the four children, and listed the mother as a non-Catholic, and the father as . . . William Joshua Sweat.
Dun, dun, dun . . .
At that time, there was only one William Joshua Sweat (dear old great grandpa - well, not so old at that time) in New Hope, Nelson County, Kentucky.
So, more questions . . . Was William Joshua actually their father? Did he have another family that no one knew about? Did he just believe those children couldn't go to heaven without being baptized? Did he give them his name so they could get to heaven?
Well, at this point, we just have more questions. Maybe one day we'll dig deep enough to find the truth. Maybe one day we'll know why great-grandpa disappeared.
Until then, I only have my warped imagination and the inspiration for an historical mystery loosely based on great grandpa's disappearance. Oh, the places my imagination has gone as I plot out this future novel.
Did I mention that on her death certificate, Margaret Morris Sweat is listed as a . . . widow?!?!? Uh, huh, maybe he didn't just disappear, maybe . . .
S
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